Photographic memory
by MysticFantasy
Summary: Five times the team has seen Steve draw memories from his past
1. Chapter 1: Clint

**Photographic memory**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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Disclaimer: (_I own no part of this movie or the characters in it._)

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Chapter 1-Clint

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Clint walked into the living room and found it void of any of his team members. This he found a little odd. Usually, there was almost always someone in the living room.

"Anyone here?" he called out.

"Out here." a voice answered coming from the direction of the balcony.

Clint walked over and stepped out into the sun. He quickly spotted the person who answered his call.

Steve stood close to the railing of the balcony with an easel in front of him that held a white canvas. In Steve's black smudged hand was a charcoal pencil that was moving quickly about the surface of the canvas.

Clint walked over and gazed at the drawing Steve was working on. His brows knitted together at the drawing and he noticed that Steve was looking out at the city every now and then.

"Is that...Is that what New York looked like in your day?" Clint asked noticing that Steve seemed to be drawing the view from the balcony but the buildings were different.

"I never got the see the city from this height but yes. This is what it looked like back then." Steve answered expertly adding shading to a building.

"Wow." Clint breathed. "That's amazing Cap. Things really have changed over that time."

"They have." Steve sadly agreed as he began to draw what seemed to be a corner grocery store.

Clint remained silent as he continued to watch Steve add to his drawing. The more that Steve added to it, the more it started looking like a photo someone had taken with their camera.

"Where did you learn to draw like this?" the archer asked as Steve finished the black charcoal outlinings.

"Self-taught." Steve answered picking up a grey charcoal pencil and began to add more shading that made the picture stand out even more. "There wasn't much that could be done for entertainment when I was a kid. Everything was too costly and my family couldn't afford things like that. Not that I would have been able to stand it for long. Given my health conditions. One day, I just picked up a pencil and piece of paper and started drawing. As I got older, my art teachers noticed how much I drew and said that I had enough talent that could get me into an art program in college. When I heard that, I thought I had the dream I wanted."

"Thought you always wanted to be a soldier?" Clint asked moving to sit on the lounge chair.

"I did." Steve replied. "Believe me, it wasn't an easy choice to make. For the hobby I loved to do, I could have gone to college and become a comic artist."

"You wanted to do comics?" Clint asked a little surprised as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Sure did." Steve answered with his own smirk. "Me becoming the comic character didn't cross my wildest thoughts."

"How much were those comics of you when they first came out?" Clint asked curiously.

"Ten to twelve scents if I remember right." Steve answered. "I'm surprised so many sold at that price."

"I'm never going to get over how you think that was expensive. But it is understandable since you grew up during that time." Clint said. "Coulson actually showed me one of the comics he collected about you. He had it in a proteced casing and didn't let me get within an inch of it."

Steve chuckled although he wasn't surprised at all. Almost every time that he was at SHIELD HQ, Phil Coulson would somehow turn into his personal assisstant and biggest fan.

Offering to get Steve coffee or already having it ready for him, giving him details of a mission the others weren't aware of at the time, inform the captain of how his legacy helped Coulson decide to try to follow in his footsteps...

It had disturbed Steve at first but he got use to it after a while and knew that Phil was just being himself which wasn't something they got to see very much.

Especially Clint and Natasha.

They had always seen one side of their handler and to see the senior agent turn into a fanboy every time Steve walked into the room...It was something the two spies always enjoyed and tried to make fun of him for later.

Steve put down the charcoal pencil and wiped his hands on a white towel as he looked over his work.

The archer quickly stood and looked at the finished drawing. The buildings, signs, cars and even people seemed to be frozen in time in the drawing. It looked so real and if it hadn't been lacking color, Clint would have believed it was some kind of time paradox trap that Tony and Bruce might have created by accident.

"D**n." he exclaimed. "I wish I could draw like this."

"It's simple enough when you get the hang of it." Steve said. "Want lessons?"

"Yes!"


	2. Chapter 2: Bruce

**Chapter 2-Bruce**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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Bruce lightly sighed in relaxation and leaned back on the bench he was sitting on. It was a rare day off from his normal activities and he wanted to spend the day relaxing like a normal human would.

The only down side was that Fury had heard about his scheduled day off and had requested that someone tag along with him in case something should make him decide to bring his green side out.

Luckily for Bruce, Steve had been the one to tag along and keep him company. The doctor felt relieved to know that the captain had been the one to agree to stay in his presence while he was in town.

Fury was right about someone needing to be with him in order to help him stay calm in case something made him upset and Steve was the best one to have around. He was the only one who was able to talk the Hulk down whenever he came out.

The doctor looked over to the side and spotted Steve looking out at the scenery and trying to capture it on a sketchpad he had in his hands.

Steve was close enough for Bruce to clearly see that the sketch of the park, although it was of the one around them, had a different look to it.

"Is that the park when you were younger?" he dared to ask.

"Yeah." Steve answered as he continued to draw. "It was pretty much the same as this one."

Bruce noticed that Steve had added a few people in the drawing and they were all wearing clothes that were in style of his time.

"I didn't know you could draw so well." Bruce said getting up and moving closer to examine the drawing. "I had to know a lot of things about you when Ross had me trying to recreate the serum but I didn't know about this little talent."

"I'm not really too surprised." Steve said with a small smirk. "Not many people in my time knew I like to draw. I never really got to do it often because of the war."

"You got some real talent." Bruce said.

"Thanks." Steve said with a shy smile.

Bruce smiled. He wondered if Steve would ever get use to compliments and being treated like the national icon he'd become. The title was placed on him during his time before he'd gone into the ice and Bruce was sure the treatment and attention had been the same as it is today if not worse.

"How'd you learn to draw like this?" the doctor asked.

"Taught myself mostly." Steve answered.

"Really?"

"Yeah. The school that I went to wasn't exactly top of the line. I was about seven or so when I just got a piece of paper and started drawing. Tried to draw my favorite cartoon character at the time and it ended up looking like something from one of those crazy scienece movies Tony's always watching. But I didn't give up. I kept practicing and by the time I was in high school I had been offered an art scholarship."

"Why didn't you take it?"

"I wanted to be part of the Army." Steve answered. "Honestly, if Dr. Erskine hadn't given me the chance to become a super soldier I most likely would have gone to college and become a comic artist."

"Comics?" Bruce repeated with a smirk. "You wanted to be a comic artist."

"Yes, I did." Steve answered with a full smile. "I already had ideas for the comics I had wanted to make. But I was finally given the chance that I wanted. Traded one dream for the other."

"You could still go to college for art in case you ever decide to take a leave from being Captain America for a while." Bruce said. "Can't image doing the same thing for seventy years is enjoyable."

"Well, if you don't count all those years I was asleep, I do like being Captain America." Steve said. "Being that other side has allowed me to do all of the things I never thought I could do before. You should have seen how happy I was the first time I was able to run and not have an asthma attack right away. I felt like I was flying."

"How was it when you first stepped out of that pod?" Bruce asked.

"First thing I noticed, I was taller." Steve said. "I was so use to having to literally look up at people that it felt so strange to now have them look up at me. Then all the muscle that I had gotten. Before, I had weight maybe ninty five pounds tops. After, I was a healthy two hundred twenty pounds. I didn't feel like a simple shove could break me in half any more. The first time that I was able to look myself in the mirror and notice that I have a healthy body...I thought that I might be looking at someone else. All of the things the serum gave me...I still don't think I'm use to all of it. The enhanced memory, senses, speed, strength...It all felt so forgein to me and still does at times. Sometimes, when I first look at myself in the mirror, I still expect to see my old scrawny self."

Bruce absorbed everything Steve said and felt that he could very easily relate to most of it.

He himself still felt strange at times knowing that he had a monster inside him that could come out when he got a little angry. He also admitted that there were times he would see himself in a mirror and think that he would see the Hulk staring back at him.

Some of his senses had gotten a little stronger after the accident but he knew they weren't close to being on the same level as Steve's.

Bruce wondered if the serum enhanced Steve's artistic skills as well. Even so, he was sure that Steve was a great artist before the serum.

Steve finished the drawing and Bruce was amazed at the end result. It looked so real. He had seen many great works of art but Steve's drawing seemed to surpass all of them.

_Well, they say that some talents show the soul of the person they belong to. Seems like we know Steve's._ the doctor thought.


	3. Chapter 3: Pepper

**Chapter 3-Pepper**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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Pepper Potts walked onto the balcony that was bathed in warm sunlight and found her target painting something that she wasn't able to properly see.

"There you are, Steve." she exclaimed.

"Ma'am." Steve greeted pausing in his painting. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'd like to speak with you if I could." Pepper answered. "Please, don't stop painting because of me."

Steve seemed a little hesitant but did as she requested and continued in his art work. He had learned from watching Tony that you did not want to get Virginia Pepper Potts mad.

"What would you like to talk about?" he asked.

"It's about Tony." Pepper answered and Steve instantly froze on the spot before continuing.

"What about him?" he asked. "Are you sure I'm the one you need to speak with?"

"You're the only one who can help me." Pepper answered as she sat on a patio chair. "I need to better understand Tony and I think that part of reason I don't understand him at times is because he's still hurting about his past. Mostly...about his father, Howard."

Steve almost dropped his brush when he heard Howard's name.

"I want to know the Howard Stark you knew." Pepper said. "I think that understanding how he changed might help me understand Tony better."

"You are aware that the Howard _I_ know and the Howard that _Tony_ knows, are two diffrent people. Right?" Steve asked.

"I do." Pepper answered. "But I'd like to understand how that came to be. From what Tony's told me, Howard snapped when you vanished."

"I've been told that a few times." Steve said dipping his brush into some paint. "First and foremost, Howard was a good friend. When I saw his show at the expo, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would become friend's with someone like him. He did things like Tony in many ways but he was a little more subtle. Just a little."

"So, being a show off runs in the Stark family besides brains and money." Pepper figured.

"Guess so." Steve agreed as he gathered more paint on his brush. "Howard was smart. Just like Tony. He didn't show off his money as much though but he did have a bragging habit when he came up with something new for me and my team or the Army."

"Something Tony also possesses." Pepper said.

"I guess I'm really the only person who is qualified to say this but Tony is very much like Howard in so many ways." Steve said as he switched the regular brush to a small fan brush. "I really think it's because I knew Howard so well before everything that happened is why Tony is always a little on edge around me and a little hostile toward me at times."

"He told me that Howard spent years trying to find you." Pepper said. "That's one of the reasons that he wasn't around Tony so much when he was a child. But work had a key in it as well."

"Another thing they both shared." Steve said dabbing his brush into a mix of red and yellow. "Howard loved his job but he didn't let it run his life. He would take me and the guys to a bar every so often and got us as many drinks as we could handle. I still think he was surprised at how much my team could drink in a single night. Back then, it was expensive. But he never complained. I think he was just like Tony in trying to see if I can get drunk or not."

"Didn't work?" Pepper asked although she already knew the answer.

"Nope." Steve answered with a smirk. "Spent a pretty penny on pricy scotch trying to see if I could just get a buzz from it. Needless to say, I ended up carrying Howard to his car and I drove him home. Didn't see him for two days and when I did he promised that he would never take me drinking again. Broke that promise a week later since we were shipping out."

Pepper lightly chuckled.

"So, was there any side of Howard that you've seen that Tony saw?" she asked turning serious.

"No." Steve answered honestly as he switched brushes again. "I knew Howard to be brilliant at what he did, loved to embrace life and was a good friend. I do admit that I feel guilty to what happened to him after I stopped the Hydra plane. I do feel guilty about how Tony's childhood turned out and I wish I could do something to make it up to him but I feel that he wouldn't give me a chance to do that. I think stubbornness also runs in the Stark family."

"Well, at least that part is similar." Pepper said with a small smile.

Steve lightly chuckled as he picked up a sponge and lightly dabbed it across the canvas.

"Well, I think I understand things a little better now." Pepper said. "Thank you Steve."

"Any time ma'am." Steve said with a small smile.

"Alright. Am I going to have to sit you down and talk again?" Pepper declared with a playful smile as she stood and walked over to him. She froze and smiled at the painting he'd created.

The top half of the painting had Tony in his Iron Man suit flying away from the Stark tower. The bottom half of the painting had the Avengers in their costumes. But in the middle was Pepper herself, watching Tony as he flew in the sky.

"Steve, this is amazing." she said.

"It's yours if you want it." Steve offered. "It's done."

"Not yet." she said picking up a thin bristled brush, dipped it in black paint and handed it to Steve. "It's missing the artists signature."

The captain smirked as he took the brush and expertly signed his name on the bottom corner.


	4. Chapter 4: Natasha

**Chapter 4-Natasha**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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Despite what many people think, Natasha was very fond of tasteful artwork. She loved many of the famous paintings and some times went to an art museum when she wanted to relax and unwind.

So she was only midly surprised when she caught Steve sitting in the den working on a colored sketch.

"What are you working on there, Captain?" She asked and peeked over his shoulder to see a drawing of a woman in a uniform.

Steve gasped when his drawing pad was snatched from his hands and Natasha was now looking at it closely.

Natasha lightly smiled at the artistic skill Steve possessed. She had heard about this talent from Coulson but it wasn't until now that she was able to see it for herself.

She walked around the couch and sat close to the soldier.

"I had no idea you were this talented." she said and flipped to the front of the sketch book to find a half done sketch of what looked to be an upward angle of the tower.

"I needed something to do when I was younger since I wasn't able to do anything else because of my health." Steve admitted as Natasha turned another page to reveal a drawing of a young dark haired man in a uniform. The patch on his uniform indicated that he was a sergeant.

"Is this...Bucky?" she asked.

"Yeah." Steve answered softly. "That was before he left and before Dr. Erskine accepted me into the super soldier program."

"This is amazing." Natasha said and turned the page. She smirked when she saw a perfectly drawn sketch of a group of men that Natasha recognized to be Steve's team from the war.

The Howling Commando's.

"This detail is amazing." Natasha said. "Whoever showed you how to draw did an amazing job."

"Self taught." he said.

Natasha quickly looked at Steve with a surprised look.

"You learned how to draw like this by yourself?" she asked.

Steve nodded with a faint blush on his face.

"Couldn't really afford lessons." he said.

"Steve, I'm impressed." Natasha said. She turned the page and was faced with a drawing of the father of the man who is Iron Man.

She stared at the face of Howard Stark and could easily see Tony in the resemblance.

"Was he anything like Tony?" she asked.

"Very much so." Steve answered. "I know Tony doesn't like to talk about it but he's very much like his father."

"I'm not really too surprised." Natasha said. "I heard stories about Howard Stark."

She turned to the next page to see a great colored sketching of Clint standing on top of a building with his bow in hand and arrow ready to fly.

"Wow." Natasha exclaimed. "This really is amazing."

Steve blushed again.

The next picture was of Thor. His hammer was in his hand and his red cape lightly billowing in the wind. He looked like he was either about to go into battle or was concentrating on something.

"Thor might appoint you to do his royal portraits if he sees this." Natasha said with a smirk.

"He already asked when he saw me painting last week." Steve replied. "He asked me to go with him to Asgard the next time he goes back."

"I'm sure his father will be impressed." Natasha said as she now looked at a picture of Tony facing his Iron Man suit with a look of admiration on his face. The next page showed Bruce working in a lab with a look of concentration.

She turned the page and was faced with an amazing drawing of herself. She had one pistol drawn and a look of determination on her face. An amazing drawn Black Widow spider was in the top corner of the drawing. Her hair matched exact shade as well as her eyes. It almost looked like a photo.

"Steve, I'm flattered." she said.

Steve turned a bright shade of red.

"Well, I-I wanted to...make it as accurate as possible." he stuttered.

Natasha leaned over and kissed his cheek, which caused him to blush more.

"You did a good job." she said and turned the page to be the one Steve had been working on.

She was able to easily recognize that it was Agent Peggy Carter.

"You loved her. Didn't you?"

"Yeah." Steve answered. "She was an amazing woman. I wish I could have let her know sooner."

"I'm sure she already knew." Natasha said lowering the sketchpad and gently placing a hand over his. "She would have been very lucky to have you. Any woman would."

Steve lightly smiled and looked at the spy.

"Thank you."

Natasha smiled back before turning back to the drawings and back to her own sketch.

"Think you could do one of me choking Stark?" she asked.


	5. Chapter 5: Tony

**Chapter 5-Tony**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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The genius billionare stared at the new painting that was in Pepper's personal office in the tower. He did admit that it was an amazing painting but there was no way that he was going to admit it to Steve's face.

Pepper had told him how she came upon the painting and Tony was not entirely happy about the conversation they had while Steve had been painting it.

His girlfriend took full credit for the topic of talking about Howard but Tony couldn't be mad at her. He knew he shouldn't be mad at Steve either but he couldn't help the anger that he felt toward the man.

Tont felt that if Steve hadn't been so perfect in his time that maybe his father wouldn't have spent all that lost time looking for him. None of them had known if Steve had even survived the crash and yet they were all so desperate to find him for whatever reason.

Many of the years that Howard had searched for Steve had been Tony's younger years. The only real time that Tony ever had with his father was when he was being told stories of the famous captain.

All he ever heard was Captain America this and Steve Rogers that...After a while, Tony began to get over his secret super hero worship and see that his father's love and attention was directed toward his work and his never ending search for a man that wouldn't be discovered until years after he was dead.

Tony could see that everything his father told him about Captain America was true but he didn't want to rely on the stories he'd been told and files he'd read. He wanted to know him personally and see if he really was as big a deal as his legacy made him seem.

That was why the inventor was going to corner Steve today and they were going to have a one on one.

Luckily it didn't take long to find the soldier. He was in his usual spot during the afternoon.

The gym.

But instead of working out, the captain was sitting in the middle of the boxing ring with a large sketchpad in hand and box of multiple colored charcoal pencils next to him.

Tony walked over to the ring, climbed in and sat down in front of Steve.

The second that Steve noticed that he wasn't alone, he stopped his drawing and looked up at Tony.

"Need something?" he asked.

"To talk with you. That's what I need." Tony answered.

Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asked with a tone of uncertainty.

He and Tony were famously known for not getting along. Always being at each others throats and ready to trade blows.

Steve would always be telling Tony to be more respectful of things and people while Tony just continued to critize Steve and continue to call him an old man from a time that no one cared for any more.

It was only on the battlefield that the two weren't raising the others stress levels and blood pressure and they were actually working together as the team they had been forced to become.

Steve knows that Tony hates him because he was the unintentional cause of Howard's mind slowly snapping. The soldier had no idea that Howard would have become the way he did. He didn't think that he had been that close of a friend or co-worker with the first Stark but appearantly he had been and Tony had suffered from it.

Steve himself didn't have the best childhood but Tony at least had his father a few years longer than he had. Same with his mother. Tony also had everything that Steve could only dream of having.

It was easy for Steve to say that he didn't completely understand the man before him.

"What do you want to talk about?" Steve asked as he returned to his project.

"I think it's about time that we clear the air between us." Tony answered which got Steve's eyes on him once more. "I'm tired of my father being the reason that we're always against each other."

"I already apologized for my part on that." Steve reminded. "You didn't want it."

"I know." Tony said with a nod. "I should accept it but I want to talk with you first."

"Ok." Steve agreed but continued to draw as he switched colored pencils every few seconds.

"Look, it's easy to tell that we're two totally different people. From different times. We don't agree on much either. Really it's only when we're out taking out the next bad guy that we're not ready to snap the others neck."

"That's a little much. Don't you think?" Steve asked.

"Maybe. But the point is, all we ever do is fight and argue. It's pretty easy to tell that we could work together a lot easier if we didn't have our pasts getting in the way."

"The past is something hard to let go of." Steve said. "I should know. I may have been under for seventy years but that doesn't make anything any easier. To me, everything that I went through seems like it happened not even a month ago."

Tony stared at Steve as he continued to movie a blue pencil across the paper.

Steve's past was very well known to a great many people but few got to know it as well as the Avengers and a select few in SHIELD.

No one blamed Steve for being depressed at times or taking off short a few days to clear his head. Everyone he ever knew and cared for had vanished in the blink of an eye while he was forced to deal with a new world he didn't understand.

Tony knew that the pain of his past wasn't much compared to Steve's.

Steve was still trying to overcome the grief of knowing that all of his friends were gone while Tony had years to accept his parent's deaths and most of his friends were still around.

Now that he thought about it, Tony realized that the only people Steve could call 'friends' were the Avengers. The brave captain didn't go out much so he didn't get to meet many new people.

"Look, I think we should just start over." Tony suggested. "Put our differences aside and start being friends."

"Easier said than done." Steve said switching to a green pencil.

"Ok. Then answer me this. How easy was it to be friends with my father?"

Steve looked up at Tony, looking annoyed that Tony was questioning him about his and Howard's friendship again.

"The first time I ever 'talked' to him face to face was when I got the serum. I didn't talk to him again until I went to the Hydra camp to find Bucky. So, it was really him to made the offer for us to be friends and even then we were more just work friends since we only saw each other whenever he had something new for me and my team to use."

"Did you ever go drinking together? Go to outtings or whatever it was called?"

"He took me _and_ the team drinking a few times and a military picnic was the only time we got to hang out outside of work."

"You talked though right? About women, sports, anything?"

"Tony, you know about the friendship I had with your father. Why are you bringing this up?"

"Because I think that we might be able to have a better one." Tony answered. "I've been in competition with my father and his legacy all my life but this is the one thing that I don't care about outdoing him on. I already beat him in getting to have a more successful career with the Star Spangled Man himself. Hell, I've known and worked with you almost as long as him. That's enough for me."

"Tony, you know that I've been trying to make peace with you since we first met. But you're angry at me for what happened to your father and that's really what's keeping us from really working together without any conflicts. Just get your anger out, blame me up front. Accept it. It's the only way that it'll work."

"I do blame you for a lot of things that happened." Tony admitted. "My father never being there for me when I was younger, all those years he spent looking for you when he could have been spending it with me. I constantly heard stories about you and the things you had done. My father literally made you sound like you were more important than the pope or eagle."

"Howard like to exaggerate a bit." Steve said. "He made a lot of things seem that way."

"I think my dad really liked you though. He had to have in order for him to practically go off the deep end like that and ignore me throughout most of my childhood. And stop feeling guilty about it. Happened after your heroic deed."

"I can't help but feel partially responsible for it Tony." Steve said as he switched to a red pencil. "I really had no idea that I meant that much to Howard. He never struck me as the kind of person to be that way towards his child. Actually, he struck me as the kind to never have a child."

"Well, when you have so much of something you have to leave it to someone." Tony said. "I think the only reason he married my mother and had me was because he needed someone to inherit the Stark name and company."

"Was he at all a good parent at times?" Steve asked.

"A few times." Tony answered. "Most of the time it was when he was telling me those stories about you and your team. All of the people you saved, all of those missions you went on and so forth. Now, I admit, when I was a kid and I heard those stories about you...I kinda...looked up to you."

Steve snapped his head up at Tony with a surprised look on his face.

"Mind you, I said 'when I was a kid'." Tony said. "You have to admit that when you're a kid and you hear all of these great stories of a hero your father personally knew it's a little...amazing."

"I can believe that." Steve said. "I'm amazed that you actually admitted it to my face."

"Don't get use to it." Tony stated. "My honesty is rare towards anyone beisdes Pepper. And some times even _she_ doesn't always get it."

"Your manners towards women is amazing." Steve said sarcastically.

"Well, not all of us were blessed to be born in a time when a man was raised with manners since his birth." Tony replied with the same tone then said seriously. "But, I am a little jealous of the way that you are a gentleman. I've heard very recently and often that Pepper wishes I was more like you in that department."

"I could help you with that. If you want." Steve offered as he studied his drawing before continuing.

"I may take you up on that later." Tony said. "But, back to the matter at hand. What do you say about putting everything behind us and starting over? Nothing of my father mentioned unless absolutely nessessary and we start trying to be friends."

Steve was silent for a few moments as he continued his drawing. He stopped, put the pencil away and looked at Tony straight on.

"What brought you to this talk in the first place?" he asked.

"Other than the things that you pointed out on the helicarrier that turned out to be some of the truest words I've ever been told, that painting...that you gave Pepper...got me thinking about turning over a new leaf."

"You saw it?"

"She even told me what you were talking about when you were making it." Tony answered. "The way that you had done it with such skill and stuff..."

"It's almost the same way that you create your suits." Steve pointed out. "We both have artistic skill but it's just applied differently."

"Yours shows better emotion in it though." Tony said. "I can't make the suit have facial emotions or that might throw off my awesomeness."

Steve lightly smirked.

"So, what do you say?" Tony asked.

"I'm in." Steve answered. "I think it would do us both good to stop all the fighting and try to actually be friends."

"Good." Tony said with a small smile. "Good. We can give it a try some time soon."

"Sure." Steve agreed and tore out the page he'd been working and handed it to Tony. "For you."

Tony took the drawing despite his uneasiness with it being handed to him. He looked at it and blinked with an unreadable look on his face.

What he saw was an amazing drawing of himself on the lower half. In his hands he was holding his Iron Man helmet. In the middle of the drawing was the famed Stark tower in all its glory before the battle against Loki had taken place. At the top of the drawing was a young looking Howard Stark. Howard was looking down toward Tony with a content expression on his face.

"He would have been proud of you Tony." Steve said.

Tony weakly smiled. This was easily the best picture of him and his father. Actually, it was probably the only good one.

This was definatly going to be placed in his lab in plain sight for all to see.

Despite the wonderful artwork, Tony couldn't help but make a small joke.

"You didn't catch my full handsomeness."


	6. Chapter 6: Family

**Chapter 6-Family photo**

**By: MysticFantasy**

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"Guys, check this out." Tony announced as he walked into the living room with what looked to be an old photo album in his hands. "Found this with my dad's old stuff."

The Avengers, minus Steve, gathered around Tony when he sat down on the couch. The inventor opened the album and the group was right away confronted with a newsclipping that had a picture of Steve standing with a group of men in front of a tank.

The caption under the photo read _'Captain America and the Howling Commando's stand before one of many Army tanks as they prepare to head into battle'._

Tony flipped to the next page and they saw a photo of Steve. He looked to be leading a team of soldiers through what looked to be a town hit badly by the war. The caption under this photo read, '_Captain America leads allies into a recently attacked town to provide aide and rescue.'_.

There was a small story explaining what Steve and his men had done while in town but the team looked at the photo under the words that showed their captain without his helmet on. He was kneeling on the ground before an ederly woman. Their hands were clasped between them, their heads were lowered slightly, their eyes were shut and a rosary was dangling from their hands.

'_Captain Rogers prays with local woman for a better and peaceful future and for the war to come to an end'_.

"Why didn't Cap ever tell us about these?" Clint asked curiously as Tony turned the page for them to see a picture of their leader with a group of small children. A small boy sat on his shoulders while others looked to be leading him somewhere with excited looks.

"Maybe he was unaware that his portrait was being taken?" Thor suggested.

"These were too close for him not to notice." Bruce said. "He must not have wanted anyone else to see these. That's my only guess."

"He really is modest." Natasha said as they looked at the next photo of Steve and the commando's sitting in tavern with plates loaded with food and pitchers of water and beer in front of them.

_'Locals show their appreciation to the American's by providing a hot meal to Captain Rogers and the Howling Commando's.'_

"This article says that Steve and his team got this kind of treatment in nearly every town they went to." Tony read aloud. "Shops and hotels gave them hot home cooked meals and places to stay as a way to show them their gratitude."

"That was nice of them." Natasha said.

"When the hero fighting the war suddenly shows up in your town, wouldn't you do the same?" Clint asked.

"I think so." the spy answered before Tony turned the page once more to show Steve, the Commando's and a few soldiers sitting slouched together in the back of a plane. All of them fast asleep.

_'Captain Rogers and fellow soldiers catch some much needed sleep on a plane ride back to the states.'_

"He looks worn out." Natasha said as she noticed how slouched Steve was in the picture. She had never seen Steve have anything less than perfect posture.

"He wasn't Captain America for very long in his time but I'm sure that it exhausted him either way." Bruce said. "Because he was the only super soldier in existance, he was called on so many missions. Barely having time for anything between them."

"He took on a lot more responsibility than I think he could handle." Clint said.

"Maybe it was because he was trying to prove himself." Natasha said. "When he first became the world's first super soldier no one believed one man could do anything. He was going to be shipped to a research facility to be a lab rat but a senator stepped in and made him a dancing monkey instead. It wasn't until he heard his friend was captured that he decided to prove everyone wrong about one man making a difference."

"No one believed that he was such a capable warrior?" Thor asked with slight confusion written on his face.

"They didn't." Bruce confirmed. He basically knew almost everything there was to know about Steve Rogers because of his attempts to re-create the super soldier serum. "When Steve was turned into a super soldier and the man who helped him be that way was killed, no one gave Steve a chance to prove himself. They wanted an entire army of men like him but he was the only one who got the chance to be like that. Since he was the only one, they thought it would be better to leave him somewhere else."

"Those men were fools to believe such a thing." Thor declared.

"Very true." Tony agreed. "My father told me how Steve caught the man who shot the doctor that created the serum. That alone should have proved to all of them that he could do something. He was running faster than the cars for crying out loud."

"So he became a jester?" Thor asked.

"Something like that." Clint answered. "An actor. He was in movies, did stage shows...all in the name of people buying war bonds to help supply weapons and supplies for the war and soldiers. It wasn't until he was part of the war that the bonds really began to sell."

"It amazes me how the people of your different times think differently." Thor said. "In the past, the captain was not believe in and now he is looked upon as the greatest warrior Midgard has ever known."

"It is amazing." Tony said. "But that's the way us Midgardians think. We only see what might help us most at the time and forget everything else. Steve was able to prove otherwise and now people don't forget it so easily."

Tony flipped the page and the team was now faced with a picture of Steve and his men standing in front of a memorial headstone.

_'Captain Rogers and fellow soldiers give their prayers and respect to fallen soldier Sergeant James Barnes.'_

"Steve's whole life seems like he had very little happiness." Natasha said.

"It does." Bruce agreed.

"It's high time that we started giving him some good memories." Tony declared. "Let's give him this album but with a little twist of our own."

**.**

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**.**

Steve lightly sighed as he walked out of his bathroom fresh out of the shower. He quickly dried his hair with his towel before spotting something on his bed.

It was a faded green album.

After spending a second wondering who got into his room without him noticing, Steve sat on the bed and opened the album.

He weakly smiled when he saw the picture of himself and his team in front of an Army tank. Although his friends were gone, it was nice to see their faces.

The soldier continued to look at the pictures and read the articles that covered the pages. He frowned when he came to the one that was of Bucky's service.

Eventually he turned the page and was suddenly faced with a colored picture. It was of himself wearing his new Captain America. He instantly recognized the scenery to be when he went to Germany to confront Loki.

Turning the page, Steve saw another colored photo. This time it was of himself standing behind the pilot chairs of a quinjet that Clint and Natasha were piloting.

_Where did all of this come from?_ he asked himself as he looked at another photo. This one was of him and Thor fighting in the street against the Chitauri.

For the next several pages, he saw colored pictures of himself either alone or with one or two others on the team. It wasn't until the last page that he came to a group picture of the six Avengers.

It had been taken about a month ago and somehow they had all agreed to it.

The captain smiled at the picture and spotted a folded piece of paper lying next to it. He picked it up, opened it and began reading.

_Decided to add a bit of color and joy to your life. We saw all the things you had done in the past and thought that you could use a little cheering up. We added these pictures to show you that you're not the only one who can capture a moment. Never mind that you can draw and we take pictures. Hope you like the album. Tony._

Steve smiled and looked at the group picture once more. The picture of his family.


End file.
